mental health

Here at State of Opportunity, we've talked extensively about how Adverse Childhood Experiences—or ACEs—can affect a child throughout their lives. But new research suggests traumatic experiences in adulthood can be just as harmful.

As many as one in five kids in the U.S. shows signs of a mental health disorder like anxiety, depression, or ADHD. And nearly 80% of those who need mental health services won't get them, according to NPR.

Left untreated, these disorders can lead to failure in school, behavioral problems, and in the most extreme cases, suicide.

Hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. went way up after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. And the backlash against American Muslims is on the rise again after the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations notes on its website "that it has received more reports about acts of Islamophobic discrimination, intimidation, threats, and violence targeting American Muslims (or those perceived to be Muslim) and Islamic institutions in the past week-and-a-half than during any other limited period of time since the 9/11 terror attacks."

The sun is beaming down on the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus on what is likely one of the last summer days of the season. The open space in front of the library is full of students and professors rushing to grab lunch before their next class.

Dr. April Ping is a pediatrician in Livingston county. She's known by foster parents in her area as somebody who understands the complications the foster care system brings, and the health concerns it creates for kids.

Suicide is a major public health problem for American Indians. The suicide rate for American Indian teenagers in particular is 2.5 times higher than the national average. I took a trip over the summer to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Reservation in Suttons Bay to talk with folks in the community about the issue.

When I visited the reservation, it was rainy, no sun in sight, but that didn't stop a couple thousand people from making the trek to the reservation for the annual powwow. The Anishinaabe word is "Jiingtamok."

Times are incredibly tough for Native American children. Poverty, unemployment and abuse are just some of the issues plaguing the nation's tribes, according to a recent article in the Washington Post. Here's an excerpt: